Personal fitness improvements – Cheryl Cheong

A very interesting outcome after going through YTT is my own fitness improvements.

I started out YTT being pretty fit, being a regular yoga practitioner, pole dancer and runner. But I was hitting a fitness plateau and I couldn’t break out of it. I was seeing very little progress in my yoga practice and I couldn’t figure out how to get better.

Well, YTT is a great way to shock up the system.

Practicing asanas for 3-4 hours every Saturday and Sunday is insane. What a way to jolt the system. But the long hours and consistent practice are really great to improve your fitness and definitely helped opened my tight hips and back in particular.

On top of that, you need to be more conscious than ever about your alignment, since you’re going to be teaching that to your students. Funny how simple adjustments to your poses can really intensify your workout.

I’ve seen a marked difference in simple things like my downward dog, which was always a struggle for me. Most noticeable difference is in my pinchas. In the past, doing a pincha would literally put me off. I would actually feel like I’m in so much pain from my tight hips and back and shoulders that I would tear and feel like screaming. But slowly, it’s become more and more available to me!

Progress, not perfection. It’s about the journey, not the destination.